I disagreed mightily with GWB on several things (No Child Left Behind, “Bi-partisanship”, treatment of Scooter Libby, just to name a few)
But what galls me most is his unwillingness to stick up for himself and to let the liberals set the tone and define the rules of discourse. I understand part of that was his gentlemanly personality, and part was his belief that doing so would undermine the office of the Presidency, but I wish he had come out swinging. He was tough enough to do it, why he just surrendered that ground to liberals just angered me.
But all in all, I did feel like adults were in charge during that eight years, even with the policies I disagreed with.
Now, with this administration, not so much.
Other Presidents spent a huge portion of their time fighting the media (Nixon & Clinton come to mind).
Bush decided he was going to concentrate his energies on other parts of his job and during his tenure his CIC role was of paramount importance.
I'm glad he didn't squabble with the left which loves to brawl. (A by-product of this BTW is that media viewership went DOWN which is precisely BECAUSE Bush didn't engage like they wanted.) Bush instead concentrated on keeping us safe and did a fine job.